Two boroughs in one, as far as rats are concerned
The wide, tree-lined avenues around Ealing Broadway and Walpole Park share little with the packed terraces and multi-let houses of Southall, and rats exploit each in a different way. An Edwardian villa with a long back garden gives a rat an outdoor route in; a house split into three or four lettings in Southall gives it a much shorter journey between neighbours once it is inside.
Acton's older drain runs
The Victorian and Edwardian terraces along Ealing's eastern edge, in and around Acton, sit on drainage that has been carrying waste away for well over a century. A cracked pipe or a joint that has slipped lets rats climb out of the sewer and into a floor void, and the sign is rarely a hole outside - it is more often a smell near the stairs or scratching that seems to come from nowhere.
Southall: one problem, several households
Where a Southall terrace has been divided into several lettings, a rat that finds a way into one flat is often only a party wall away from the next. That makes the market and high street area worth checking street by street rather than door by door, since neighbours frequently turn out to share the source.
Gardens along the avenues
Further out, along Ealing and Hanwell's broader avenues, a rat is just as likely to have come in from the garden as from the drains - drawn by a bird feeder, a compost heap or fruit left to rot under a tree. Perivale and Greenford's newer streets near the canal see the same pattern along the towpath and gardens backing onto it.
Dealing with them, step by step
- Confirm the animal, and note where and when you see or hear it
- Take away easy food: bird feeders, split bin bags, pet bowls left down overnight
- Book treatment rather than laying poison where children, pets or wildlife could find it
- Leave any holes you have found open for now, so no rat is sealed inside a wall
- Once activity has stopped, close the route: proofing above ground, a repair below it
Closing the route for good
None of this matters much until the last step. Above ground, gaps around old pipework in Ealing's larger houses and party-wall gaps in Southall's terraces both need sealing with materials a rat cannot gnaw through. Below ground, a camera survey can find the actual break in the pipe rather than guessing at it. Our rodent proofing service covers the accessible gaps above ground.
Booking rat control in Ealing
Rat control anywhere in Ealing is £190 for a flat and £240 for a house, and because around Ealing, where broad tree-lined Victorian and Edwardian avenues around the town centre, mentioning that when you book rat control points us towards the likely route in, with the rest of the detail on the Ealing rat control page.
